I’m always amused by the arguments people make to avoid saying they stole. They were “inspired by” or “paying homage to.” They “borrowed liberally” or “copyright infringed,” but they never stole. I know (before you reply with a thousand comments) that there are differences, but at the end of the day you’re playing semantics. Did you take something (including a copy) without paying or giving credit? Yep, then you stole.
There is always the danger in religion that it becomes more about advertising and meeting goals, than it does about the end goal. Some might argue all religion is already this way, but they’ve obviously not paid close attention. Some truly take it to another level. It’s save them at all costs.
In case you’re wondering, yes Judgement House, Hell House, and their ilk are all real things that people actually put on and attend. Are they all really that bad? I’ve actually been through one of the Judgement Houses before (and yes, they’re different things), and generally I found it not too bad. Of course, this was a good ten plus years ago, but still. It had an obvious Christian message as one would expect, but not hateful like some of these apparently can get (specifically the Hell House ones). Now, that might have simply been the church altering the one I attended, so I certainly wouldn’t vouch for them as a whole.
Some of them, as the comic notes, are downright nutty in their behavior.
I’ve long found the Christian crusade against Halloween to be silly. The witches and ghouls are not in celebration of the demonic, but to scare away evil spirits (at least, if you go back to its origins). Are there pagan rituals celebrated? Sure, but so are there during Christmas. It’s really just a fun night for kids to dress up and get candy. It’s also one of the few nights of the year when entire communities throw open their doors and interact with one another. What could be more Christian?
My wife and I often run into songs where we’re unsure if it’s a praise song, or just a love song. We like to use the method, “Would this make me uncomfortable if another human being was singing it about me?” If the song has lyrics about someone being “the only thing I need,” “you saved me,” or “you healed my mortal soul,” then you can probably rest assured the song is about God. Or else 95% of pop music.
People are getting lots of laughs out of this California group predicting the Rapture for Saturday. Still, one has to wonder what the collective reaction would be if they proved right? What if Saturday a portion of the population up and disappeared? That wouldn’t be good for the already troubled housing market.
There’s an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry and George discuss whether Superman also has super humor abilities. George notes that if he did, wouldn’t they have mentioned it at some point? I wonder the same thing about Jesus.
As an academic, I often find that often the things I write about or discuss in class conflict with the social mores of the church. There’s a weird disconnect here that I imagine a lot of religious academics face. If you’re one of them, let us know how you handle it.
I think the sexes often view one another through strange prisms. I hear men refer to women in terms of a game or sport, and women refer to men with shopping terms. Of course, when the man no longer coordinates well like a good purse, they want to return him. And you know how mad men get when they feel like a video game is cheating? Wait, on second thought, that would make a good future strip.
Giving your child a Biblical name can often be a good thing. Names like Mary, John, Joseph, Sarah, etc. are common and easy to remember. Of course, there are more difficult Biblical names. Methuselah is certainly one, but I’m more intrigued by the type of person who isn’t very religious and chooses a name at random. I can’t wait to have a student named Beelzebub.
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